Itinerary

Arrival day. Rendezvous at 6:00 pm.
A Swiss welcome aperitif with Swiss wine and cheese; then introductions and orientation followed by a get acquainted dinner. As most of us should be able to arrive in Saas Fee around noontime, the afternoon is a good time to explore Saas Fee. However, I strongly recommend that if at all possible, you try to arrive one day early. I can guarantee this will be a fabulous hiking experience and thus it is in your interest to have a day to recover from the exhausting sleepless overnight travel and have a chance to orientate yourself to Saas Fee (5900 ft.). Having said that and as I will be arriving a day early, for anyone interested, I will lead a moderate 3 hour warm up orientation hike on Wednesday morning 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.

This hike will present you with fabulous panorama of the entire region. We take the Alpin Express gondola-lift up 3800 ft. to Felskinn at 9800 ft. From here it is an easy high level hike over the Fee and Chessjen glaciers to the Britannia Hut 9900 ft., where you have breathtaking view of the Mattmark reservoir. We climb down via the Chessjen glacier (a guide is not necessary) to Heidefriedhof at 8900 ft. and hike around the flank of the Mittaghorn (10300 ft.) to Plattjen at 8400 ft... The gondola-lift takes us from here back to Sass-Fee. Hiking time: 2 ½ hrs. Ascent 100 ft. descent 1400 ft. For those who want more, from point 2732, you can choose to hike back down the valley 3000 ft. on a difficult trail to Saas – Almagell. Easy to Moderate.

Saas-Grund – Gaspon High Altitude Trail
One of the most beautiful high altitude trails in the Valais and one of the highlights of your stay in the Saa Valley! - amidst fascinating mountain scenery with meadows of flowers and alpine pastures. First we will take the cableway -cable-car- to Hohsaas at 10,168 ft. We descend 2300 ft. in 2 hrs. to Kruezboden at 7800 ft. From here it is an easy hike on a good mountain path to Hannig. Then continuing to gruebe/Gruebesse and then through the idyllic Hoferalpji to Gspon at 6200 ft. 6 ½ hrs. Ascent 0; Descent 3800 ft.
Moderate hike. Anyone may choose to get off the Cable car at Kruezboden saving 2300 ft. and the only difficult part of this hike.

Grachen – Saas – Fee
First we take the postal-bus to Grachen. This hike passes via Hannigalp 7000 ft., which you reach by means of the Grachen-Hannigalp lift. We follow the well marked path to Balfrinalp. The trail passes through groves of alpine roses and past overhanging cliffs until you see the houses of Saas-Balen. After Seneggbode it is only another 20 minutes before you leave the Larch forest and can see Saas-Fee. 6 ½ hrs. Start hiking at 7000 ft. and end at 5900 ft. descent of 1100 ft.  Moderate hike.

Alternative:  Hike up from Saas-Fee to the Hannigalp at 7000 ft.  Then take the Grachen-Hannigalp lift down to Grachen at 5300 ft. Take the postal-bus back to Saas-Fee. Start at 5900 ft. and end at 7000 ft. 6 ½ hrs.  Ascent 100 ft. Moderate to Strenuous

Heidbodme – Antrona Pass
This is a high altitude hiking trail with a high alpine and geologically very interesting landscape, a versatile flora as well as unique scenically impressions and constantly gorgeous overlooks to the Monta Rosa massif. After taking the postal-bus from Saas-Fee to Saas -Almagell, we begin by taking the Chair lift up 2300 ft. from Saas Almagell at 5500 ft. to Heidbodme at 7800 ft. where our hike begins. We will hike via the Augstchumme at 9000 ft. and the Antrona Pass at 9300 ft. to the Jazzilucke at 10100 ft. and the high point for the day. From here we hike down 2900 ft. to the Mattmark dam and the end of the hike. We take the postalbus back to Saas-Fee. 7 hrs. Ascent – 2300 ft. Descent of 2900 ft. Strenuous.

Transfer to Zermatt and day-off or extra hike.
The transfer via Postal-bus to Stalden Sass then train to Zermatt takes about 90 minutes. After leaving our luggage in Zermatt, you have a choice for a FREE-DAY or a half day hike led by me.
We will take the Gornegrat Bahn, mountain railway, 40 minutes from Zermatt up to the Gornegrat at 10,870 ft. Before we start the 5555 ft. hike down to Zermatt (there are several places on our hike to opt out and take a mountain lift down), we can take in the incredible view from the Kulmhotel Gornegrat, the highest hotel in the Swiss Alps. Highlights: view of 29 four-thousand meter peaks including the Dom, Monte Rosa and the Matterhorn. Then we will hike down via the Riffleseeweg: Rottenboden to Rifflesee Lake to Riffleberg to Riffelalp to Findelback to Zermatt.  3-4 hrs. 8 miles. Advance moderate.

Zermatt – Trift – Hohbalmen
Today's hike is one of the most spectacular hikes in the Zermatt region as well as anywhere in the Alps. We will hike 1 hr. 45 min. up to Trift. At the Trift Hutte we cross the stream, cross the meadow and ascend a steep slope for one hour up to the Holbalmen a high plateau at 8500 ft. From here is the most incredible view of the Matterhorn as well as a full circle of 4000 meter peaks and glaciers. Our climbing is finished having ascended 3300ft. Now we hike on a narrow grass meadow looking down at Zmutt 2000 ft. directly below us. We continue on switch backs beside a huge waterfall and turn left back towards Zermatt via Kalbermattern and Zmutt. 6-7 hrs. 9.3 miles Ascent and descent 3300 ft. Strenuous.

Zermatt   - Schwarzsee – Matterhorn Hornlihut
This hike for many of us may be the highlight of the week. We take the gondola from Zermatt to Furi followed by a cable car to Schwarzee 8373 ft. saving 3000ft.of vertical. From Schwarzsee we begin a 2 ½ hour ascent to the Hornlihut at 10 696 ft. on the east ridge of the Matterhorn and guaranteed to hold your attention! We will be hiking along some edges with significant exposure; nothing dangerous but you need to pay attention. It is at the Hornlihut that the final 8-12 hour round trip technical ascent for the summit of the Matterhorn is begun by mountaineers. Then we hike 1 ½ hours back to Schwarzsee, a good place to have lunch. After lunch anyone may choose to opt out and take mountain lifts back down to Zermatt. I will continue the day's hike now down to Furi and then down to Zermatt.  6 -hrs. Ascent 2323ft. Descent 5300-5400 ft. 12 miles. Strenuous.

Zermatt – Schonbielhut
This is also one of the most spectacular hikes in the Alps. We begin by taking the gondola and cable car up to Schwarzsee again. At Schwarzsee we descend 1500 ft. steeply down to Kalbermatten at 6900 ft. At the Kalbermatten Restaurant we ascend steadily below some rock walls. The trail enters a cleft to the right and climbs beside a long waterfall; across a wooden footbridge and then on to a moraine with the stream below on our right and then climbs to a knife edge of the moraine, where the path becomes very narrow. We leave the moraine and climb on switchbacks up to the Hutte at 8800ft. The view from the Hutte especially of the Matterhorn is panoramic and breathtaking. This Hutte is the last Hutte on the famous Haute route from Chamonix to Zermatt. Then we hike 3 hours directly back to Zermatt.  7-8 hrs. ascent and descent – 3500 ft. Strenuous.

This evening will be our farewell dinner.

After breakfast, the trip ends.